Author's note: Thank you so much for the wonderful reviews! I'm so glad
you are enjoying this story. I'm afraid it isn't going to end up being one
of those long 25-30 chapters fics, but for me, this is getting long. lol.
; Sad, huh? Anyway, yeah. Here ya go. Hope you enjoy it, please
review!
Disclaimer: I don't own any of these characters, they are all JKRowlings.
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Chapter 4
Harry plopped down on a snowy bench on the other end of town. He had just fought Ron Weasley, his best friend in the world, both the magical one and the non-magical one.
'It was his fault,' he told himself.
'But you hit him first, so the fight itself was your fault,' another part of his mind reminded him.
"Just shut up, will ya?" He replied out loud.
"Harry?" a soft, sweet voice asked.
"Go away, Ginny," Harry answered almost harshly causing Ginny to cringe slightly.
"I can't do that, Darling," she answered sitting next to him.
"Why did you have to go with them?" he asked so quietly that Ginny had to hold her breath to hear him. Sighing, she rubbed his back gently.
"Hermione is my best friend. I love you, but I can't forget my closest friend because you are mad at her. You know what I mean?" She answered. "It would be like you not talking to Ron because I was mad at him."
"But I'm not talking to Ron now."
"I meant before all of this. But do you get what I mean?"
"I guess. Sort of," He answered, shrugging.
"Sort of?"
"You were with, him," he looked at her. He saw love and concern in her gentle eyes. How could he be mad at someone so sweet and someone he loved so much? He let out a long, deep sigh and rested his head on her shoulder. She softly kissed the top of his head and put her arm around him.
"Ehem, I had to interrupt a special moment, but I don't believe you two are supposed to be here."
Harry sat up and both of them looked up to see the weathered, wrinkled face of their new Divination teacher, Professor Alina, looking down at them. Her long salt and peppered hair was pulled back in a rather loose braid. Her small mouth curved in a small smile. She had her hand gentle hands tucked under her lavender cloak. She had a sweet smell of vanilla around her that always captivated Ginny in class.
"Professor Alina, I can explain this," Ginny quickly said, brushing snow out of her short hair.
"I know why and how you are here, my children," Alina answered sweetly. "I am afraid I will have to take 25 points from Gryffindor for being off the grounds when you aren't supposed to be, but if you hurry back to school I wont give you detention."
Harry looked blankly up at her.
'A teacher not giving detention? That is not normal. Then again, since when has a divination teacher ever been normal?' He asked himself.
"Yes, ma'am," Ginny said, standing up and pulling Harry to his feet. "We will go back right away. Thank you."
And with that Ginny raced towards Honeydukes, dragging Harry closely behind her. They reached the shop only minutes before closing time. They looked around just a little bit so that they wouldn't look out of place racing through the shop like a stampede. After looking around for a short time they crept down into the basement and down through the trapped door into the cold, dark tunnel. Quickly, they each pulled out their wands and lit them, flooding the tunnel with the dim light. The few plants that grew in the tunnel curled up, hiding from the uncommon and unwanted light.
"Harry." Ginny stopped just before they reached the entrance into the school. Harry stopped and turned to look at her, the dim light illuminating her face, giving her a mysterious appearance.
"hm?" He waited, not wanting to lose more points from Gryffindor if some one happened to notice that they were not there.
"I'm sorry," She said. "I love you."
Looking into her loving eyes, Harry forgot all about house points. He loved her so much more than he hated Draco. He loved her so much more than he was angry at Ron and Hermione. He couldn't be angry with Ginny. Realizing this he stepped to her, closing the space between them, and pressed his mouth to the corner of hers. Ginny wrapped her arms around the man she loved and kissed him softly and lovingly.
"I love you, Ginny," Harry whispered between gentle kisses. He held her tightly; as though he would never let her go, and he didn't intend to ever let her go.
xXx
"Darco, wake up."
Hermione pulled Draco's pillow out from under his head. Draco groaned and pulled the blanket over his head. Hermione rolled her eyes hit him with the pillow.
"Come on. They are going to stop serving lunch in 20 minutes! Get. UP!" Hermione yelled.
Draco sat bolt upright, the blanket sliding off of his pale, but strong bare chest. He threw the green comforter off of his legs and stepped out of his bed.
"Lunch is almost over? Why didn't you wake me up sooner?" He growled as he pulled a pair of blue jeans over his black boxers.
"You seemed so tired," Hermione answered sitting on the bed and watching him, slightly disappointed as he pulled a black t-shirt over his blond head. He mumbled to quietly for her to hear as he combed his hair back and slightly to the right and sprayed a mist of hair spray over his head. Once he was finished he turned to Hermione and offered his arm to her.
"Shall we?"
Hermione smiled sweetly at him as she stood up and hooked her arm around his. He softly kissed her temple. Then the two of them, arm in arm, walked out of the Head's common room into the corridor at the top of the stairs that led to the entrance hall. They had begun walking toward the Great Hall when Hermione stopped.
"Oh! I just remembered, I need to grab a book from my room for Ginny," She cried. "I'll meet you in the Great Hall."
And with that she turned and raced back to her room.
Draco watched her run with a slightly startled look on his face. With a small shrug he turned and continued to the Great Hall. As he walked through the doors he looked around, his head held high, a slightly smug look on his face. He did have a bit of a reputation to keep after all. Several girls from the Slytherin and Hufflepuff table looked at him, sighing dreamily and swooning over him, all of them giggling and whispering among each other. Draco, ever so slightly, shook his head.
'These girls don't get that I'm not looking, I guess,' he though. 'I'm Hermione's and her's alone. Though that red-head is kinda cute...'
He glanced at the Gryffindor table. He quickly found Harry and Ginny. Harry caught his eye and glared at him, a look of pure hatred in his eyes. Draco just looked at him, his face unreadable. He then looked at Ginny who looked at him for an instant and then looked back down at her plate. She had a somewhat regretful look on her face as she slouched with her elbows on the table. For being such a tomboy she usually had extremely good manners and posture, which did not consist of putting her elbows on the table or slouching. He next saw Ron who was sitting with Seamus and Lavender. He too looked a bit downtrodden.
'I guess Ron and Harry aren't on talking terms any more,' he thought before mentally slapping himself. He had seem them fighting, hadn't he? 'So why is Ginny with Harry and not sitting with Ron?'
He wasn't sure about this but decided to make sure he got some lunch before they cleared the tables. As he sat down at the Head's table he looked toward the door to see if Hermione was coming yet. She wasn't here yet. He shrugged and began piling eggs and sausage on his plate. He then began eating taking very large bites. Hermione would have told him to slow down and breath a bit. "Breathing is healthy for you." She had told him many times. Every now and then he would check the doors to see if Hermione was coming yet. She wasn't. When he finished eating she still hadn't showed up so he went back to the Head's rooms.
"Hermione?" He called looking around the common room quickly before running up the stairs to her room. "Hermione? Love? Where are you?"
He looked around her room with a somewhat surprised look on his face. There were books everywhere, which really wasn't surprising. What was surprising was that they were not on the table and shelves. Someone had thrown all of her books on the floor. The blankets on her bed were thrown half way off the bed and there were clothes everywhere. That was not right. Hermione was a very organized person who did not have a single book out of place, whose bed was always made, and whose clothes were always neatly put away. With all this in him he was beginning to get worried. Running down the stairs he raced out of the common room and down the corridor to the library.
"Hermione?" He called.
"Mr. Malfoy," Madam Prince said firmly. "Keep your voice down, please."
"Sorry ma'am," He said not looking at her. He was too busy looking around the library to hear her. He looked down one shelf of books. There was a group of Ravenclaw boys huddling around something and chuckling. They looked up when Draco looked their way. They all had a worried look on their faces. Draco however didn't seem to notice them. He went to the next shelf and looked down the aisle, then the next and the next. She wasn't there. He then ran to the Great hall to see if she had made it there and he had just missed her. She wasn't there. Finally he wasn't sure where else to look. Frantically he raced to the Gryffindor common room.
"Toadstool," He urgently said the password. The Fat Lady looked a bit shocked that a Slytherin would want in the Gryffindor common room, nonetheless, she swung open her portrait and Draco quickly stepped inside and looked around. Hermione wasn't there, but he did find the other people he was looking for. Harry and Ginny sat at a table in the far corner or the scarlet room looking through a book, and Ron was sitting in one of the armed chairs by the fire staring blankly at the leaping flames.
"Potter, Weasley," he called.
The common room fell silent and looked at Draco. Ron sat up and turned to face the frightened boy. Harry, a surprised look on his face, looked at Draco. Quickly his expression turned from surprised to annoyed.
"What do you want, Malfoy," Harry asked bitterly.
"Hermione is missing. Have you seen her? Has anyone seen her?" He asked looking franticly around the room. Everyone shook their heads. Ron jumped up from his large scarlet chair, a worried look on his face. Draco's eyes rested on Harry who stared back at him, unsure of what to think.
'Hermione is missing! I've got to find her,' was the first thing that went through his mind.
'Yeah, but who cares. She turned her back on you to go out with that Slytherin scum, remember?' A part of his mind reminded him.
'But, I don't want her gone. What if Voldemort got her?' He thought franticly.
'Who cares? I mean really, why go face him again for the likes of her?' The voice sounded lazy and bored.
'I care,' he thought, his face now reflecting his worry as he looked Draco in the eyes.
Remembering his bond with Voldemort he decided to try to enter his mind to see if he had Hermione. He closed his eyes and concentrated. Being careful to keep his barriers up as much as he could while reaching out, he carefully prodded Voldemort's mind. Harry was thankful to find out that Voldemort had left his barriers weak, or so it seemed. He pushed forward and soon saw what Voldemort was seeing. Hermione was on the floor, her hair going in every direction, terror in her eyes
"Taking me wont help you get to Harry," she said bravely. "He hates me and wont risk getting killed to save me."
"Silly girl," Voldemort said in his unhumanly high-pitched voice. He raised his wand, pointing it at her. "You must not know your friend that well if you believe that. Crucio!"
"NO!" Harry yelled as he quickly pulled out of Voldemort's mind. He did not wish to see her being put through the one of the worst tortures known to the wizardkind.
"Harry?" Ginny rested her hand on his. He didn't realize it but he was shaking.
"Voldemort has her," Harry said. He couldn't believe he was going to help Malfoy with something, even if it was to rescue Hermione, but they had to get to her before Voldemort killed her or she said something about the Order.
"We have to rescue her," he said. "He is torturing her."
"I'm coming," Ron said quickly shooting Harry a look that said, "We are going to have to be in this together, get over it." Harry nodded shorting taking a step toward Draco and Ron who had already gone to the Head Boy's side.
"I'm coming too," Ginny said standing up. Harry stopped short and turned to face her. She had a determined look in her pine colored eyes that told him that it would be next to pointless to try to talk her out of it. But he did not want her to get hurt.
"No, Ginny. I can't let you," Harry said firmly.
"Well too bad, because I am coming whether you want me too or not," She answered sternly, her hands balled up in tight fists and resting on her hips.
"Ginny, I can't let anything happen to you."
"Harry, I can take care of myself. I do not need you to be my protector. I am going to help Hermione. She is my friend, and she would do the same for me." Her eyes did not leave Harry's as she spoke. Harry sighed in defeat.
"Alright, fine."
He and Ginny turned and faced Draco and Ron.
"The longer we stand around here, the more danger she is in," Ron said, sounding quite heroic. Lavender, who was sitting near by watching all of this, sighed dreamily at her boyfriend.
Harry and Ginny walked up to Draco and Ron. When they reached the young men, they turned and all four of them filed out of the common room, one by one.
Disclaimer: I don't own any of these characters, they are all JKRowlings.
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Chapter 4
Harry plopped down on a snowy bench on the other end of town. He had just fought Ron Weasley, his best friend in the world, both the magical one and the non-magical one.
'It was his fault,' he told himself.
'But you hit him first, so the fight itself was your fault,' another part of his mind reminded him.
"Just shut up, will ya?" He replied out loud.
"Harry?" a soft, sweet voice asked.
"Go away, Ginny," Harry answered almost harshly causing Ginny to cringe slightly.
"I can't do that, Darling," she answered sitting next to him.
"Why did you have to go with them?" he asked so quietly that Ginny had to hold her breath to hear him. Sighing, she rubbed his back gently.
"Hermione is my best friend. I love you, but I can't forget my closest friend because you are mad at her. You know what I mean?" She answered. "It would be like you not talking to Ron because I was mad at him."
"But I'm not talking to Ron now."
"I meant before all of this. But do you get what I mean?"
"I guess. Sort of," He answered, shrugging.
"Sort of?"
"You were with, him," he looked at her. He saw love and concern in her gentle eyes. How could he be mad at someone so sweet and someone he loved so much? He let out a long, deep sigh and rested his head on her shoulder. She softly kissed the top of his head and put her arm around him.
"Ehem, I had to interrupt a special moment, but I don't believe you two are supposed to be here."
Harry sat up and both of them looked up to see the weathered, wrinkled face of their new Divination teacher, Professor Alina, looking down at them. Her long salt and peppered hair was pulled back in a rather loose braid. Her small mouth curved in a small smile. She had her hand gentle hands tucked under her lavender cloak. She had a sweet smell of vanilla around her that always captivated Ginny in class.
"Professor Alina, I can explain this," Ginny quickly said, brushing snow out of her short hair.
"I know why and how you are here, my children," Alina answered sweetly. "I am afraid I will have to take 25 points from Gryffindor for being off the grounds when you aren't supposed to be, but if you hurry back to school I wont give you detention."
Harry looked blankly up at her.
'A teacher not giving detention? That is not normal. Then again, since when has a divination teacher ever been normal?' He asked himself.
"Yes, ma'am," Ginny said, standing up and pulling Harry to his feet. "We will go back right away. Thank you."
And with that Ginny raced towards Honeydukes, dragging Harry closely behind her. They reached the shop only minutes before closing time. They looked around just a little bit so that they wouldn't look out of place racing through the shop like a stampede. After looking around for a short time they crept down into the basement and down through the trapped door into the cold, dark tunnel. Quickly, they each pulled out their wands and lit them, flooding the tunnel with the dim light. The few plants that grew in the tunnel curled up, hiding from the uncommon and unwanted light.
"Harry." Ginny stopped just before they reached the entrance into the school. Harry stopped and turned to look at her, the dim light illuminating her face, giving her a mysterious appearance.
"hm?" He waited, not wanting to lose more points from Gryffindor if some one happened to notice that they were not there.
"I'm sorry," She said. "I love you."
Looking into her loving eyes, Harry forgot all about house points. He loved her so much more than he hated Draco. He loved her so much more than he was angry at Ron and Hermione. He couldn't be angry with Ginny. Realizing this he stepped to her, closing the space between them, and pressed his mouth to the corner of hers. Ginny wrapped her arms around the man she loved and kissed him softly and lovingly.
"I love you, Ginny," Harry whispered between gentle kisses. He held her tightly; as though he would never let her go, and he didn't intend to ever let her go.
xXx
"Darco, wake up."
Hermione pulled Draco's pillow out from under his head. Draco groaned and pulled the blanket over his head. Hermione rolled her eyes hit him with the pillow.
"Come on. They are going to stop serving lunch in 20 minutes! Get. UP!" Hermione yelled.
Draco sat bolt upright, the blanket sliding off of his pale, but strong bare chest. He threw the green comforter off of his legs and stepped out of his bed.
"Lunch is almost over? Why didn't you wake me up sooner?" He growled as he pulled a pair of blue jeans over his black boxers.
"You seemed so tired," Hermione answered sitting on the bed and watching him, slightly disappointed as he pulled a black t-shirt over his blond head. He mumbled to quietly for her to hear as he combed his hair back and slightly to the right and sprayed a mist of hair spray over his head. Once he was finished he turned to Hermione and offered his arm to her.
"Shall we?"
Hermione smiled sweetly at him as she stood up and hooked her arm around his. He softly kissed her temple. Then the two of them, arm in arm, walked out of the Head's common room into the corridor at the top of the stairs that led to the entrance hall. They had begun walking toward the Great Hall when Hermione stopped.
"Oh! I just remembered, I need to grab a book from my room for Ginny," She cried. "I'll meet you in the Great Hall."
And with that she turned and raced back to her room.
Draco watched her run with a slightly startled look on his face. With a small shrug he turned and continued to the Great Hall. As he walked through the doors he looked around, his head held high, a slightly smug look on his face. He did have a bit of a reputation to keep after all. Several girls from the Slytherin and Hufflepuff table looked at him, sighing dreamily and swooning over him, all of them giggling and whispering among each other. Draco, ever so slightly, shook his head.
'These girls don't get that I'm not looking, I guess,' he though. 'I'm Hermione's and her's alone. Though that red-head is kinda cute...'
He glanced at the Gryffindor table. He quickly found Harry and Ginny. Harry caught his eye and glared at him, a look of pure hatred in his eyes. Draco just looked at him, his face unreadable. He then looked at Ginny who looked at him for an instant and then looked back down at her plate. She had a somewhat regretful look on her face as she slouched with her elbows on the table. For being such a tomboy she usually had extremely good manners and posture, which did not consist of putting her elbows on the table or slouching. He next saw Ron who was sitting with Seamus and Lavender. He too looked a bit downtrodden.
'I guess Ron and Harry aren't on talking terms any more,' he thought before mentally slapping himself. He had seem them fighting, hadn't he? 'So why is Ginny with Harry and not sitting with Ron?'
He wasn't sure about this but decided to make sure he got some lunch before they cleared the tables. As he sat down at the Head's table he looked toward the door to see if Hermione was coming yet. She wasn't here yet. He shrugged and began piling eggs and sausage on his plate. He then began eating taking very large bites. Hermione would have told him to slow down and breath a bit. "Breathing is healthy for you." She had told him many times. Every now and then he would check the doors to see if Hermione was coming yet. She wasn't. When he finished eating she still hadn't showed up so he went back to the Head's rooms.
"Hermione?" He called looking around the common room quickly before running up the stairs to her room. "Hermione? Love? Where are you?"
He looked around her room with a somewhat surprised look on his face. There were books everywhere, which really wasn't surprising. What was surprising was that they were not on the table and shelves. Someone had thrown all of her books on the floor. The blankets on her bed were thrown half way off the bed and there were clothes everywhere. That was not right. Hermione was a very organized person who did not have a single book out of place, whose bed was always made, and whose clothes were always neatly put away. With all this in him he was beginning to get worried. Running down the stairs he raced out of the common room and down the corridor to the library.
"Hermione?" He called.
"Mr. Malfoy," Madam Prince said firmly. "Keep your voice down, please."
"Sorry ma'am," He said not looking at her. He was too busy looking around the library to hear her. He looked down one shelf of books. There was a group of Ravenclaw boys huddling around something and chuckling. They looked up when Draco looked their way. They all had a worried look on their faces. Draco however didn't seem to notice them. He went to the next shelf and looked down the aisle, then the next and the next. She wasn't there. He then ran to the Great hall to see if she had made it there and he had just missed her. She wasn't there. Finally he wasn't sure where else to look. Frantically he raced to the Gryffindor common room.
"Toadstool," He urgently said the password. The Fat Lady looked a bit shocked that a Slytherin would want in the Gryffindor common room, nonetheless, she swung open her portrait and Draco quickly stepped inside and looked around. Hermione wasn't there, but he did find the other people he was looking for. Harry and Ginny sat at a table in the far corner or the scarlet room looking through a book, and Ron was sitting in one of the armed chairs by the fire staring blankly at the leaping flames.
"Potter, Weasley," he called.
The common room fell silent and looked at Draco. Ron sat up and turned to face the frightened boy. Harry, a surprised look on his face, looked at Draco. Quickly his expression turned from surprised to annoyed.
"What do you want, Malfoy," Harry asked bitterly.
"Hermione is missing. Have you seen her? Has anyone seen her?" He asked looking franticly around the room. Everyone shook their heads. Ron jumped up from his large scarlet chair, a worried look on his face. Draco's eyes rested on Harry who stared back at him, unsure of what to think.
'Hermione is missing! I've got to find her,' was the first thing that went through his mind.
'Yeah, but who cares. She turned her back on you to go out with that Slytherin scum, remember?' A part of his mind reminded him.
'But, I don't want her gone. What if Voldemort got her?' He thought franticly.
'Who cares? I mean really, why go face him again for the likes of her?' The voice sounded lazy and bored.
'I care,' he thought, his face now reflecting his worry as he looked Draco in the eyes.
Remembering his bond with Voldemort he decided to try to enter his mind to see if he had Hermione. He closed his eyes and concentrated. Being careful to keep his barriers up as much as he could while reaching out, he carefully prodded Voldemort's mind. Harry was thankful to find out that Voldemort had left his barriers weak, or so it seemed. He pushed forward and soon saw what Voldemort was seeing. Hermione was on the floor, her hair going in every direction, terror in her eyes
"Taking me wont help you get to Harry," she said bravely. "He hates me and wont risk getting killed to save me."
"Silly girl," Voldemort said in his unhumanly high-pitched voice. He raised his wand, pointing it at her. "You must not know your friend that well if you believe that. Crucio!"
"NO!" Harry yelled as he quickly pulled out of Voldemort's mind. He did not wish to see her being put through the one of the worst tortures known to the wizardkind.
"Harry?" Ginny rested her hand on his. He didn't realize it but he was shaking.
"Voldemort has her," Harry said. He couldn't believe he was going to help Malfoy with something, even if it was to rescue Hermione, but they had to get to her before Voldemort killed her or she said something about the Order.
"We have to rescue her," he said. "He is torturing her."
"I'm coming," Ron said quickly shooting Harry a look that said, "We are going to have to be in this together, get over it." Harry nodded shorting taking a step toward Draco and Ron who had already gone to the Head Boy's side.
"I'm coming too," Ginny said standing up. Harry stopped short and turned to face her. She had a determined look in her pine colored eyes that told him that it would be next to pointless to try to talk her out of it. But he did not want her to get hurt.
"No, Ginny. I can't let you," Harry said firmly.
"Well too bad, because I am coming whether you want me too or not," She answered sternly, her hands balled up in tight fists and resting on her hips.
"Ginny, I can't let anything happen to you."
"Harry, I can take care of myself. I do not need you to be my protector. I am going to help Hermione. She is my friend, and she would do the same for me." Her eyes did not leave Harry's as she spoke. Harry sighed in defeat.
"Alright, fine."
He and Ginny turned and faced Draco and Ron.
"The longer we stand around here, the more danger she is in," Ron said, sounding quite heroic. Lavender, who was sitting near by watching all of this, sighed dreamily at her boyfriend.
Harry and Ginny walked up to Draco and Ron. When they reached the young men, they turned and all four of them filed out of the common room, one by one.